MTN to work towards better voice quality and data services (Ghana)
South Africa based mobile operator MTN, is working towards improved the voice quality and data services offered to consumers. According to reports, Michael Ikpoki, Chief Executive Officer, MTN Ghana Limited, said it has initiated key infrastructure investment to support voice quality, capacity and data growth of the company.
He said the infrastructure provided was lower in the first half of last year, due to operational supplier difficulty. Ikpoki added that the company would focus all its energies on improving customers experience by investing in network improvement, hiring experienced staff, providing quality service, improving distribution networks and brining on board more value-added services, among other things.
He said that the MTN Group will continue to provide competitive voice offerings aimed at maintaining market share as lower traffic and mobile termination rates, mainly in South Africa and Nigeria impacted revenue growth.
Ikpoki said MTN Ghana has delivered a solid performance as subscribers increased by 16.5 per cent to 10.2 million subscribers owing to attractive promotions. He noted that the market share declined marginally to 52 per cent from 53 per cent, but that could be attributed to the competitive nature of the market.
He said the company would continue its efforts to strengthen its position on the non-voice service and maintain and improve customer experience.
TPSA will not alter revenue forecast (Poland)
Poland’s dominant telephone operator, Telekomunikacja Polska SA has stated that it won’t need to revise its revenue forecast following a proposal from the telecommunications regulator to cut mobile termination rates.
Polish telecommunications regulator UKE proposed that the country’s three largest mobile operators cut their MTRs by 42% and has given them a month to respond.
UKE proposed that the regulated mobile termination rates be cut to $0.0339 a minute from US$0.05 a minute.
According to the company, while making their estimates regarding 2011 revenue, they took into account MTR being cut to between US$0.02 to US$0.05.
According to TPSA, the regulator’s proposal is a motivator for all operators to complete the negotiations as soon as possible.
NZ regulator claims mobile termination rates too high
The New Zealand Commerce Commission has announced that the wholesale prices a mobile network operator charges for providing services to customers from other network operators should be significantly reduced.
The commission stated that wholesale prices for voice calls to a mobile network should be set at a cost-based benchmark, starting at a rate of 4.6 cents per minute.
It added that the Commission recognizes that this represents a substantial immediate reduction in the termination rate for voice calls, but believes that this is justified because of the unique market conditions in New Zealand, and is necessary to remove a significant, long-standing and growing barrier to efficient expansion by a small mobile network operator.
Mobile termination charges are a significant contributor to the retail prices of calls and text messages to mobile phones. Earlier this year, the watchdog recommended the communications minister accept undertakings from Telecom and Vodafone Group PLC as an alternative to regulation, but this was rejected after a new product was offered by Vodafone that highlighted competition concerns already identified.
The Commerce Commission now seeks submission on the draft determination with a final determination due in March.
ComReg to reduce Mobile Termination Rates (Ireland)
ComReg, Ireland’s telecoms regulator has announced that the country’s mobile networks are going to reduce their maximum mobile termination rates (MTR) over the next two years until the end of 2012. These MTR reductions symbolize added reductions to the current MTR reduction plans.
The reductions are being made as part of the understanding that maximum Irish rates would be approximate to the European average.
The details of revised reductions to maximum rates will be effective by 31 December 2010 and will be published in Eircom’s switched transit routing and price list by operators in due course. Further adjustments will be published every six months as the trajectory of other European rates emerges.
ComReg has also started a review of the market for voice termination on mobile networks in line with all of its regulatory obligations.
New Zealand duopoly hit by a new entry
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Formerly known as NZ Communications, 2degrees, New Zealand’s newly-launched third mobile network has made a remarkable start in its bid to break the country’s mobile duopoly. The new network has not only taken over 50 percent of net additions which is something about 70,000 connections in the last quarter of the year but has also predicted that it will surpass a quarter of a million connections by the end of the current quarter (Q1 2010).
The GSM services of 2degrees were launched in August 2009. It’s low-cost prepaid strategy quickly made an impact as it significantly undercut its larger rivals, market-leader Vodafone and second-placed Telecom New Zealand (Telecom). The company cut the voice calls from NZD0.89 (US$0.63) to NZD0.44 (US$0.31) per minute and standard text messaging from NZD0.20 to NZD0.09. The operator has also claimed that it has halved the country’s standard prepaid rates.
NZD250 million (US$176 million) has been initially invested by the operator to build out its new network using Huawei kit. The launch of the new network has also served to step up pressure on regulators to force Vodafone and Telecom to make significant cuts in their mobile termination rates (MTRs). Even before the regulatory intervention, the two larger operators have already begun moves to cut standard termination rates (NZD0.15 per minute for calls and NZD0.10 for texts).
New Zealand’s market leader is in the form of Vodafone with just under 2.5 million connections by year-end. However, overall connections growth is slowing, rising by just 1.2 percent in the year to Q4 2009. Meanwhile, a subsidiary of the country’s fixed-line incumbent operator and second-placed Telecom is in the process of replacing its CDMA2000 network with a new high-spec WCDMA/HSPA network running at 850MHz called XT.
2degrees deployed a well-established tactic for a new player entering a market. Embedded incumbents controlled the operator by building a connections base around a low-cost, no-frills prepaid proposition. Currently, New Zealand has seven MVNOs, the majority of which have been launched in the last year. There is also indication that the operator is looking beyond 2G services but it is likely to find itself trapped in a competition with its larger rivals in high-speed services.
Vodafone has emerged as the clear market leader in this space and has had success in bundling up its 3G services with its fixed-line offerings via cross-channel content arrangements with the likes of Sky TV.
Telecom’s rival XT network seems to be copying Telstra’s pioneering NextG network in neighboring Australia, but it has had a first year it would rather forget. However, Telecom has engulfed itself in heavy investment in the network and it should emerge as a strong platform for mobile data services once the technical problems are resolved.
3 UK seeks to cut price to boost market share
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: After the proposal by UK regulator Ofcom to cut the mobile termination rates, telecom operator 3 UK has planned to aggressively increase its customer base.
3 UK is UK’s smallest mobile operator with just 5.8 million customers and its expenses are more as it pays more in MTR charges as compared to rival operators than it receives for connecting calls to its network.
According to 3 UK CEO Ken Russell, 3 planned to cut the cost of its phone calls in the next two years and that it could now be more aggressive with its voice call pricing and look to significantly expand its market share.
He also felt that the changes meant he could focus on the company’s market share.
50% reduction in MTRs proposed by Belgian regulator
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: To increase competition in the wireless sector and reduce the cost of calls to consumers, the mobile network operators of Belgium has been asked by the country’s telecoms regulator, the Belgian Institute for Post and Telecommunications (BIPT) to halve mobile termination rates (MTRs). The operators have six weeks to respond to the regulator’s proposals.
50% cut in MTRs, far steeper than the 20% reduction has been recommended by the regulator. It is now widely expected that all three operators, Proximus (Belgacom Mobile), Mobistar and BASE, will appeal the decision.
Regulation of mobile interconnection rates had been proposed by BIPT in March 2006, and while the charges have been cut by around 50% since that date, the levels remain different for each of the three operators.
MTR plans opposed by Portugal Telecom
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: The plans to cut mobile termination rates (MTRs) have been opposed by Portugal Telecom (PT). According to the operator, such developments could threaten ongoing investment in next generation networks.
Plans to reduce MTRs by almost 50% had been previously revealed by market regulator ANACOM while ending inequalities between operators’ rates, in quarterly steps until April 2011.
PT, operating in the mobile market via its wireless arm Telecomunicacoes Moveis Nacionais (TMN) feels that proposal by ANACOM puts investment in new generation mobile networks at serious risk and the destruction of the operators’ investment capacity in the current economic context cannot benefit consumers.
Ofcom calls for mobile termination rate cuts
UK
regulator Ofcom has proposed cutting wholesale mobile termination rates further. The current agreement on rates expires in March 2007. The five major network operators have all been deemed to be significant powers in the market and will be subject to rate cuts in four steps for the four years to early 2011. Average charges for Vodafone, O2 ,
Orange
and T-Mobile are expected to fall to GBP 0.053 per minute by
31 March 2011
. This would remove the current difference in charges between users of 1800 MHz and 900 MHz spectrum. Network operator 3′s charges are expected to fall to GBP 0.06 per minute by 2011, reflecting a different cost base for the 3G operator. Ofcom will re-evaluate the proposed final level of the charges and the glide path cap for implementing the gradual reductions following a public consultation. The consultation runs until 22 November, with a final decision on the rates expected in early 2007.
Source- http://www.telecompaper.com
Technorati : O2, Ofcom, Opreator, Orange, UK, Vodafone
Ice Rocket : O2, Ofcom, Opreator, Orange, UK, Vodafone
